Jessica Myers
7
December 2016
Heart and Soul
In
Europe, the lyric poem was the essence of the Romantic movement. The lyric
provided a space for poets to record their feelings from a particular moment. No
longer was the poem required to tell a story, as a narrative or epic poem, but
instead, the poem itself became an event, thus creating the timelessness of
lyric poetry. This style also produced the ambiguous “I” and “you” that
entrapped the voice of the speaker within the poem, but could be adopted by any
person reading the poem. This style encouraged a unique experience which led to
the construction of the individual set apart from the masses. In the same way,
Romantic poetry is the heart of American Romanticism through its ability to
idealize the form of abstract ideas, such as love and death, and transmit the
emotions and thoughts of a speaker, which provides a window into human
intuition.
Although “To My Dear and Loving Husband” was written before the Romantic
movement, Anne Bradstreet’s style anticipates the idealization of an abstract
idea, such as the love between a husband and wife. In her essay, “Approaching
the Study of American Romantic Poetry,” Hanna Mak notes that Bradstreet’s
poem “serves
[as] an example of a spiritual predecessor to works within the movement, sharing
a great deal of sentiment and language which appears to portend the later
style.” Bradstreet’s sentiment is captured through the voice of the speaker, who
in this moment is enraptured at the thought of her love for her husband and his
love for her. The speaker establishes the felicity she finds from receiving her
husband’s love by challenging other women to “[c]ompare with [her], ye women, if
you can” (4). Her security in her husband’s love reveals the strength of their
connection. Most women would desire the stability found in a love like the one
described here. Since she feels singular in her husband’s love for her, she is
set apart from the whole of society. The speaker describes her love for her
husband in hyperbolic terms. She “prize[s] [his] love more than whole Mines of
gold / Or all riches that the East doth hold” (5,6). The value of his priceless
love reveals its magnitude. She also describes her love for him in a similarly
hyperbolic style. Her “love is such that Rivers cannot quench, / Nor ought but
love from thee give recompense” (7, 8). Her use of hyperbole indicates the
strong emotion one partner feels for the other. Since both are described in this
exaggerated manner, their love is equally great. A love of this size is
idealized as the speaker portrays its perfection, and momentarily ignores any
negativity there may be in this relationship. Their love is perfectly suspended
within the confines of this lyric poem, forever idealized for the next reader to
experience.
Not only does Bradstreet’s poem present a perfect picture of love, but it also
opens a window into the union between the married couple. The speaker opens the
poem with a depiction of the couple’s unity: “If ever two were one, then surely
we” (1). The line echoes Biblical verbiage from Genesis where Adam and Eve
became “one flesh.” They are united both physically and spiritually. This unity
can be applied to any couple due to the ambiguous use of “we.” The universality
of the “we” gives the poem a Romantic quality that allows it to transcend time.
The poem itself has become an event outside of time. Despite the archaic
language, it can be read and applied to a married couple today to express their
feelings of unity in their own marriage. Furthermore, the couple’s love will
overcome death: “Then while we live, in love let’s so persever / That when we
live no more, we may live ever” (11,12). These paradoxical lines suggest that
their unending love will immortalize them in time. Similarly, the timeless lines
of the poem memorialize their love, sustaining it through the passing of time as
each new generation reads of this couple’s undying love for one another.
Ultimately, the form of the Romantic poem generates a space where an
individual’s emotions can be transcribed and captured for “eternity.”
Similarly, Modernist poet, Claude McKay’s sonnet, “If We Must Die,” glorifies a
noble death, despite battle’s ugliness and bloodiness, implying that death need
not be meaningless or inglorious. By choosing the terms in which a person dies,
they discover dignity in death which gives it significance. He calls for his
“kinsmen” in battle to “nobly die, / So that [their] precious blood may not be
shed / in vain” (9, 6-8). The speaker taps into mankind’s fear of dying a
senseless death. He gives voice to the fear of a meaningless death that a
soldier must face when entering a battle. He rallies them together under the
banner of “kinsmen” who are “outnumbered” by “the common foe” (9, 10). They are
the few individuals, who are willing to stand for right, fighting the masses,
“the murderous, cowardly pack” (13). However, the “we” allows for a voice to be
adopted by many different people. These generic terms can be applied to anyone
in a tense situation, making the poem universally applicable. McKay also
establishes an idealized setting that could be anywhere that involves a drastic
heroic situation. These men are “[p]ressed to the wall, dying but fighting
back!” (14). This ambiguous setting creates a timeless event which could
encompass many different scenarios. These various Romantic elements allow McKay
to reach a broader audience because many people desire an honorable death that
will be memorialized and remembered by those they leave behind.
Although Romantic poetry ennobles the scene of battle, this idealism can obscure
the gruesome atrocities of battle; however, McKay’s poem includes primitive
imagery that allows the reader to perceive the savage battle for survival.
Primitive language appears when describing the enemy the men are battling. The
speaker declares they are “mad and hungry dogs” and “monsters” (3,8). He
dehumanizes them so that the fighters can justify killing them in battle. This
becomes self-defense rather than the taking of human lives. Killing these men
because they are animals is a much more defensible position. The speaker
declares that the fighters should not die “like hogs” (1). They do not want to
be slaughtered like defenseless animals who die senselessly for the benefit of
others. They do not want to be “[h]unted and penned in an inglorious spot”
because this would remove the dignity and bravery of their deaths (2). However,
many times being “[h]unted and penned” is the true scene of a battle (2).
Although portrayed as negative imagery, he still incorporates the scene as a
reminder that battle can be gruesome and death can be meaningless. The poets who
romanticize battles only show a glimmer of the true horrors of the fight. They
focus on the glory of dying a “noble” death despite insurmountable odds. McKay’s
inclusion of primitivism within this Romantic poem assigns the battle a touch of
reality.
Romantic poetry is an essential instrument for American Romanticism because it
captures a concentrated and isolated moment that depicts the inner thoughts and
feelings of the individual and dignifies their abstract ideals. The moment
within the poem is a timeless event that can be applied universally due to the
ambiguity of the speaker and setting. The Romantic style gives voice to the
hopes, fears, and desires of an individual. This genre dignifies the emotions of
the speaker, which enables the reader to align them with their own beliefs.
Therefore, scrutinizing the poem for Romantic elements is useful since it forces
the reader to assess how the author creates meaning and appreciate the purpose
behind the poem. A poem may be enjoyed at the surface level of understanding,
but to truly value the poem in its entirety, the layers of meaning must be
peeled back.
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